The committee has been formed under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, consisting of representatives from Ministry of Railways also, to work out the modalities of ‘Kisan Rail’. During the FY2020-21 budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to set up Kisan Rail through the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode for a cold supply chain to transport perishable goods.
Initiatives taken for transportation of perishable items are as follows:
-To transport perishable parcel traffic, newly designed Refrigerated Parcel Vans were procured through RCF (Rail Coach Factory), Kapurthala, Punjab.
-For the movement of fruits and vegetables to different parts of the country, a total of 98 Ventilated Insulated Containers have been procured, through Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR).
-At New Azadpur in Adarsh Nagar, Delhi, Ghazipur Ghat and Uttar Pradesh’s Raja ka Talab, temperature-controlled perishable cargo centres have been commissioned as a pilot project under the Kisan Vision Project by CONCOR, a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative.
-A similar project is also being developed at Lasalgaon, Nasik in Maharashtra. Also, approval has been granted to CRWC (Central Railside Warehouse Company) to develop temperature controlled storages at Mancheswar and Fatuha.
-In Sonepat, Fresh & Healthy Enterprise Limited has been redeveloped as Agriculture Logistic Center.
About Kisan Rail:
Kisan Rail having refrigerated coaches in Express and Freight trains will help in bringing perishable agricultural items such as vegetables, fruits to the market in a short duration of time inclusive of fish, milk, and meat. It will also build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables and will contribute to government’s plan of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.
